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As the post-tsunami news out of Japan gets increasingly dire, more and more folks seem to be hopping on the charity bullet train.

On Monday we mentioned that Lady Gaga was selling a bracelet to raise relief funds, and on Tuesday we got word that designer Tadashi Shoji plans to donate 10% of all sales for the next 30 days from his freestanding stores at South Coast Plaza and the Forum Shops in Las Vegas to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

And Wednesday, while researching an upcoming story about Temecula shepherdess and high-end yarn-spinner Natalie Redding and the world of wonderment that is Namaste Farms, I came across a charity auction that's certain to be of interest to the "fiber enthusiast" community (which is how the hard-core yarn freaks apparently refer to themselves).

Online yarn retailer Yarnmarket.com has donated four skeins of Japanese Noro Retro yarn (we're told its prized for its saturated colors), and Natalie Redding has donated one skein of her popular Charmed Hello Kitty yarn (a hand-spun alpaca-mohair blend of yarn containing Hello Kitty charms), which will be up for auction at Yarnmarket's Facebook page through midnight EDT (9 p.m. PDT) Sunday.

Although the retail value of the yarn is pegged at $109.25, as of this writing, the first two bids have already pushed the (knitting) needle to $155.

The Japanese Red Cross Society gets the proceeds of the winning bid, with the winner getting not only some seriously high-end yarn -- but the chance to knit something more than their brow in the aftermath of the disaster.

Alexis Bittar will donate all sales on his website next week to Catholic Relief Services for Japan. On March 24th all proceeds from sales at Bittar's boutiques will also be donated.

TEMPTU, the airbrush makeup maker with donate $100 of all online sales until March 31 to relief efforts in Japan.

Assouline will donate 50 percent of the proceeds from sales of the book "The Light of Tokyo," a collection of urban architecture, to the American Red Cross.

Travel clothing retailer Scottevest/SeV will donate 10 percent of online sales on March 17 to relief efforts in Japan.

[Updated: More relief effort links are being added daily.]

Photo: A charity yarn auction, which includes four skeins of Noro Retro yarn, background, and a skein of hand-spun yarn from Namaste Farms, foreground, runs through Sunday, with proceeds going to the Japanese Red Cross Society. Credit: Yarnmarket.com